Jury-free trials recommended to save courts from ‘collapse’

Thousands of cases that would normally be heard in front of a jury should be decided by judges alone, according to recommendations made by a former senior judge.

Sir Brian Leveson was asked by the Lord Chancellor to come up with a series of proposals to reduce the backlog of cases in the criminal courts.

There are almost 77,000 cases waiting for trial in the Crown Court in England and Wales – meaning some defendants and victims are waiting years for justice.

After reviewing the state of the criminal courts, Sir Brian suggested “fundamental” reforms to “reduce the risk of total system collapse”. But some barristers…